


catfight

by vois



Category: Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu | The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Genre: Denyuuden AU Week 2020, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24768694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vois/pseuds/vois
Summary: Lucile has two dark-haired, blue-eyed beauties competing for his attention! Swoon!The only problem is that one of them is a cat.
Relationships: Lucile Eris/Miran Froaude
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	catfight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [idola](https://archiveofourown.org/users/idola/gifts).



His sisters had a habit of taking in strays.

First was Iris. She would bring home all sorts of animals. Anything she could catch was fair game. Ferris looked at him warily the first few times it happened, as if he might make Iris kill and skin them if he wasn’t going to bother doing it himself, but Lucile really didn't see any harm in it.

(Although the servants certainly weren't pleased to find snakes and critters in the kitchen… haha.)

Next was Ferris. Emboldened by how he let Iris get away with it, she started dragging home boys… 

“…”

No, that sounded bad. But it was literal dragging, and nothing like that, so it was fine. 

First she brought back a royal bastard as her new dango courier. Then a few years down the line she brought back Lieral's spawn. It was like she was saying he wasn't monstrous enough or something, so the house needed another one.

Time passed. She brought back another Alpha Stigma, this time a child, and his playmate of the same age. They got along well with Iris and quickly joined in her games of catching toads and crickets.

_ Well, if everyone else is bringing back strays, why can’t I do it too? _

\- that was what Lucile thought, childish as it was, and went to find himself a cat.

That made it sound more deliberate than it actually was, though. Lucile had planned on bringing a dog back at first. He understood that dogs were both generally adored and also much needier than toads or snakes, and might keep Iris and her new friends busy. Also, he would be able to make jokes about Ferris’s other pet, especially if Iris could stop cuddling it long enough to let it stay in a doghouse.

But before any of that came to pass, Lucile had happened across a very pathetic looking cat hiding at the side of a road. Its long, black hair was so tangled and matted that he had mistaken it for a bush, or perhaps an overgrown pile of mold that the city cleaners either overlooked or avoided. However, he could sense a heart beating underneath, faint and fast as a rabbit, and it mewled pitifully when he leaned down to get a better look. Even though it stiffened and puffed itself up like it was struggling to prepare for a fight, eyes nearly entirely blue from how slit the pupils became, it still mewled like that...

“…”

It really was a stray. The perfect definition of it. Just as pathetic and pitiable as he had imagined.

So Lucile brought it home with him.

Although he hadn’t needed to use actual blades for years, his body still remembered its training. Removing the matted hair was easy, regardless of the cat’s squirming. He couldn’t remember the last time he had trained without a moving target, after all.

Actually, he couldn't remember the last time he had trained at all, but that was beside the point.

Somehow, Lucile didn’t think this was what his parents expected him to use his skills for, though.

As for feeding it… Lucile’s only reference was a storybook he had read to Ferris, once, long before he lost his humanity. It started with what insects ate, and then what frogs and birds ate the insects, and then what foxes and cats ate those animals too. He wondered if Ferris ever read it to Iris. Maybe that was what got her started with all the animals she brought home.

But he understood that cats would eat small rodents, and birds, and fish. They also liked… milk, was it? The problem was, it wasn’t like there were mice or birds around the estate. Most animals were afraid of him, after all. The creatures that Iris brought back would scramble all over the place trying to avoid him if he ever entered the same room, and the fish in the pond would die of fright alone if he spent too much time nearby. The ones that survived were probably too stupid to recognize fear, and wouldn’t be suitable prey for his new pet anyways.

Well… that was what he thought, but when he put the cat down at the edge of the pond, it sniffed at the water as if confused. A fish swam up to it and pressed its slimy mouth to the cat’s nose, and the cat flailed wildly in response. It threw itself away, landing on its back before scrambling to its feet and running into a bush.

...weren’t cats supposed to land on their feet, no matter what?

Maybe… maybe books weren’t such a good reference after all. At least not the ones he had read before. 

With that in mind, he started frequenting the castle library. It wasn't very organized, and Lucile was unsure as to whether books on cats could be found there at all, but it was a nice excuse to freak Sion out. 

Also, sometimes Miran would drop in and stare at him. Lucile wondered if it was really so suspicious or if maybe Sion had put him up to it. In any case, the attention was nice.

Lucile didn't bother checking the books out when he found what he was looking for. He smiled at Miran instead and vanished into thin air.

Miran hurried over to the shelf Lucile had been standing next to and examined its contents. The way his brow furrowed in confusion and poorly concealed anxiety was cute, as always.

"...cats? What does it mean, I wonder…"

Yes, what did it mean? Lucile wondered that, too. 

_ Maybe if you figure it out you can tell me _ , he wanted to say, but he didn't.

-

Lucile did try to feed the cat regularly, but his sense of time wasn't the best and he didn't want to delegate it to anyone else. There wasn't a particular reason for it. The cat was skittish at best around the manor's other residents, and Iris was skilled enough that sending her after a cat wouldn't be of any use to her training.

He didn't bother keeping the cat inside. He'd thought it would be too scared and too clingy to wander very far, since it liked to follow him even when he was invisible. It would sniff at the air, confused, and wander up and down a hallway he'd passed through for hours until someone else came across it, and it would run and hide behind the curtains. Yes, Lucile thought, it's far too cowardly to leave the grounds or go into the forest... but apparently it did.

The cat had started bringing dead rodents into the house. There seemed to be no pattern to it, at least at first. They would show up in the kitchen, in the library, in the hallways and the children's rooms, the last one much to their distress. 

After scouring the manor for decapitated rabbits once again, Lucile realized something.

All these places were places he liked to loiter about, even if he was intangible most of the time.

Was the cat trying to bring him treats? How endearing. Perhaps there was something to the belief that animals were more attuned to unnatural beings such as he. 

But that meant something a bit concerning. Because even if he had not slept or even entered his room in ages, he did constantly exert some fragment of his presence over his room. It was just to dissuade nosy little sisters and their tagalongs, but - 

Lucile hurried to his room. The door was closed as always but the window was open far wider than the little crack he liked to leave, and there was a veritable mound of squirrels and rats bloodying his bedsheets.

“...”

Well. It wasn't like he needed to sleep.

-

Lucile remembered to return the books to the library, eventually. There was no reason to stay anymore, but he lingered there anyways. He liked reading about other people's cats, even if he now had his own. He also liked riling Miran up, and scaring Sion, too. One time Lucile laughed out loud at a particularly charming anecdote about a cat that meowed to be picked up and cradled like a baby, and the Miran-sized shadow two bookshelves down actually jumped.

It was fun. When was the last time he could say he had such fun?

It hit him eventually. Lucile walked as he read because it was charming how Miran tried to follow him. He finished a passage on feline behaviors and stopped.

Long, black hair. Bright blue eyes. A tendency to follow him everywhere...

That was when he understood it.

Miran.

He'd name the cat Miran.

-

Lucile spoke aloud more often, now.

"Miran, would you like me to brush your hair?"

"Miran, your claws are getting a bit long."

"Miran, how many kills does this make this week?"

"Miran, has Iris been bothering you again? Poor thing."

The reply was always the same - a long chain of loud meows that didn't seem to mean anything. One time the cat sneezed in the middle and looked bewildered, but then kept going. Meow, meow, meow.

It was impossibly charming, just like the man himself. The fact that Lucile's good mood seemed to terrify Sion was just a bonus.

Lucile wouldn't say he was happy. Not really. But he was more than content, now, and the way the cat purred and clung to him had to count for something.

-

There wasn't anything special about how the day started. Both the Miran in his house and the Miran at the palace were as charming as ever. Sion was obnoxious as always. Iris filled the kitchen with toads only to cry when they got in her dango. And Miran brought him the body of a dead rat.

Except, well, this time... it wasn't Miran the cat.

No, it was a very human Miran Froaude. And the rat was metaphorical rather than literal.

Miran rambled at length about… some would-be usurper of a noble, apparently, who thought the Erises didn't do enough to warrant their status (as if any noble ever did), and how it would be laughably little effort for Lucile to kill him, and thus why make Lucile bother when Miran's carriage was passing the estate anyways, and…

Lucile was oddly touched. Did it matter if Miran was killing people on his behalf out of a sense of rivalry? Did it matter if it was from boredom, or a convenient outlet for annoyance, or a sense of disdain? It shouldn't, right? After all, this was still a gift, and there was still a body.

And unlike the critters Miran the Cat brought to him, this one he could even eat.

"Allow me to express my appreciation," Lucile said, and placed his hand on Miran's cheek. Although it was pale and smooth Lucile could feel the blood lingering in the air, letting him know that Miran had washed away the marks before coming to see him. Or, well, drop off the body. He probably hadn't expected Lucile to appear just as he was doing so.

Miran bristled a bit, just like the cat discovering someone in its favorite sunning spot. Lucile wondered what Miran would look like if he puffed up the same way his pet did when startled.

Goodness, it was getting confusing, having the same names. Perhaps he should think of something else to call the cat. Meowran, maybe.

Maybe his smile was just a bit too wide. A bit too abnormal. In any case, Miran looked at him with wary eyes and stepped back.

"That will… not be necessary, Duke Eris," he said. "I am simply doing my duty in protecting the king's investments…"

"Haha. An investment, am I…? I see. I'm flattered you think so highly of me."

Miran was starting to make a sour face. "Yes. Well. I'll be on my way."

Meowran didn't give any notice before he left, though he yowled whenever he saw Lucile going through a door. Lucile wondered if he could be trained, but dismissed the thought. Searching for him was faster with his abilities than it would be for an ordinary human. Some might say it was a waste, but Lucile really liked it.

He wondered what the cat would think of the dead man upon their doorstep.

-

Apparently Meowran thought Lucile had hunted and killed the man himself, because he tried to encourage a repeat performance.

He started savaging the poor butler whenever he and Lucile were in the same room, and would look to Lucile as if to say,  _ I have him pinned! Strike now, quickly! _

Lucile could only be grateful that it did not extend to his sisters… haha. Iris might get rough on accident.

Aside from attacking a valued member of the staff, Meowran also started bringing in his creatures alive instead of dead. Probably he wanted Lucile to hunt them, except Iris was the one doing it instead. Meowran seemed increasingly aggrieved every time she cheered and held up a chipmunk. He stubbornly did not give up, but… Lucile found a pile of dead animals on his bed again.

-

Miran brought him more dead men. As the tides of war flowed and ebbed, he became increasingly tense, and the appearance of corpses became more frequent. Not just human ones, though. Meowran had no reason to be concerned with the war, but he must have figured out that Lucile's human visitor was the one bringing the bodies in, not Lucile himself.

The live chipmunks and rabbits made a reappearance, as if Meowran were pleading with him to learn to hunt. It was amusing. The cat, of course, had no idea how good Lucile was at killing.

Then he seemed to have decided Miran was competition. Every time that Miran brought in a kill, Lucile would wait a few days before going to his room. Without fail, he would find on his bed…

"..."

Was Meowran trying to match the size of the human bodies?

"...I'm quite impressed," Lucile told him. "Perhaps you deserve a treat… but what, I wonder."

He returned to the library. Miran was there, waiting.

"Duke Eris," he said, and then twitched. "Your sister informed me that you… seem to have acquired a pet."

Even if Miran hadn't managed to deduce that from the books Lucile had been reading, it was more likely that Iris had been shouting about Meowran's latest antics and Miran had simply overheard, except - oh, dear… Iris still called the cat Miran, didn't she?

"...yes," Lucile said, suddenly feeling rather embarrassed. Luckily he could control his body temperature, and so he could stop it from showing when his ears started to heat up.

"I… she mentioned, the cat's name…" Miran seemed to be struggling. Lucile wanted to vanish on the spot, which he could certainly do, but then it would be so obvious that he was running. 

"I thought of the most charming name I could, and that is what it ended up being," he said instead.

Miran coughed. "I… see. I have… two dogs, myself, and am often told their names are rather unimaginative…"

"Oh? Do tell."

"...Pochi and Kuro. I regret to say that neither of them has a namesake the way your cat does, however."

"Haha. Well, my pet's namesake is very unique, and I can think of no one more praiseworthy. Even if your dogs were named for someone, I doubt they could compare."

Miran seemed to be struggling for a bit. Then he decided to switch topics. "I will be going on an incursion to… a certain lord's house, soon," he said. "I think…"

"I will be expecting you, then," Lucile said, and smiled. "To help dispose of the body."

"You may do so. Yes."

It was rare that Miran spoke of his intentions to bring Lucile a body. This time, Lucile even knew who he was talking about. A suspected traitor for harboring refugees. A heroic man, which was a rarity among their class, but an inconvenient one.

It was particularly inconvenient because… he was very tall, and broad-shouldered. If Meowran was determined to match his size in dead rabbits, then… oh dear.

Lucile's bed might break.

If that was the case, then… he'd just have to convince Miran to break it first.

**Author's Note:**

> this originally had more iris and lucile bonding but the timeline got muddly


End file.
